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When artist Richard Stravitz purchased and renovated a building on Laskin Road for a place to show and sell his bronze sculpture in 2008, he took the approach of a businessman.
He hired key people to run the gallery and brought in a variety of artists with strong followings. He ensured that Richard Stravitz Sculpture and Fine Art Gallery, with its large windows fronting the highly traveled Oceanfront corridor, attracted attention.
He needed his entrepreneurial spirit to kick in again about one mile away at 3004 Pacific Ave. Stravitz made the real estate investment three years ago, not long before the market changed for the worse. The tenant, Cuisine & Company catering, moved out. The building was in need of major repairs.
His options were limited.
"I couldn't lease it or sell it for a price I thought was fair," he said. "When that went sour I tried to make the most of it."
He saw potential in opening a second business – Richard Stravitz 30th Street Gallery – closer to the resort area and adjacent to the 31st Street development. Laskin Road becomes 31st Street near the Oceanfront.
He gutted the 6,000-square-foot building and renovated it from floor to ceiling.
He turned to Jan DiGiovanni, who operated South Beach Gallery more than a decade ago and had helped him set up the Laskin Road gallery.
She worked her magic, bringing similar quality of art to the new walls – Suzanne Hanley, Eric Lindbergh, Theo Wildanger, Charles Kello and more. Richard Stravitz 30th Street Gallery had a soft opening in late May with about 30 sculptures, several jewelers' work and approximately 300 paintings on display.
Customers are likely to meet at least one of the artists who are featured in the gallery when they visit.
Jeweler Christina Moscone works there. She designs earrings with Swarovski crystal pearls. Moscone said that people who buy a piece of artwork, be it jewelry or a painting, do so because they bond with it as the artist did when he or she created it. She acknowledges it when she greets customers.
"Meeting the artist tends to draw in the person who has the connection," Moscone said.
Hundreds of angled LED lights also draw customers in, especially at night when the gallery almost glows.
"Lights make everything sparkle," Stravitz said. "It gives a little more pop to the sculpture or the painting that it's shining on."
Prints of historic landmarks in Hampton Roads by Virginia Images are for sale, too. An 11-by-14-inch print of The Cavalier Beach Club in 1948 is $25.
"It's ready for framing or putting in a suitcase," said DiGiovanni.
With the 30th Street Gallery located only a block from the beach, she expects tourists will be dropping in this summer, but DiGiovanni is quick to recognize the importance of Stravitz's year-round customers.
"The locals are who we depend on," she said. "The locals really support the arts.
Article was originally published here.
